Analyse Asia Podcast: The SingTel Group with Grace Chng

Grace Chng, senior correspondent of The Straits Times under SPH Group, joined us in a conversation to discuss the SingTel Group and its global footprint across three continents. Starting from the history of how the SingTel Group transformed from a government agency to a public listed enterprise, Grace offered a primer to understand the vision and mission of SingTel Group, the current and continuous evolving business structure, the executive team behind the company and how they have synergised with their regional subsidiaries and partners. Last but not least, Grace shared how SingTel has contributed significantly with their venture fund, Innov8 to the Singapore startup ecosystem from the Blk 71, which locates most Singapore startups to Blk 71 in San Francisco.

SingTel is a major investor to the SingPost Group which BL works in. The information on the podcast are publicly known and the focus of the podcast is to understand the SingTel Group, and all the opinions expressed are mainly of his own and does not represent any organisations he worked or invested in.

Author’s disclosure:SingTel is a major investor to the SingPost Group which Bernard Leong works in. The information on the podcast are publicly known and the focus of the podcast is to understand the SingTel Group, and all the opinions expressed are mainly of his own and does not represent any organisations he worked or invested in.

Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong is a weekly podcast dedicated to the pulse of technology, business & media in Asia. They interview thought leaders and leading industry players and gain their insights to how we perceive and understand the market. Analyse Asia is a content partner of TechNode.

Introduction: Founded since 1879, IPO in 1992, mobile subscriber base of 600m customers within its own operations and regional associates across three continents: Asia, Africa and Australia, dual listed in SGX and ASX, Rev: S$17.2B and Profit S$3.8B in March 2015, Market Cap: S$60.9B dated 29 March 2016. Subsidiary ofTemasek Holdings. [5:00]

How did the SingTel evolve from a government agency to a multi-national corporation across the globe? [5:53]

Ownership of NCS, Singapore’s largest system integrator [7:40]

What are the long term goals of SingTel Group? What is their vision or mission? [8:12]

Investor to HOOQ, a OTT video company which is a joint venture with Sony and Warner Brothers.

What are the core revenues driving their businesses with reference to the three business groups: Consumer, Group Enterprise, Group Digital Life and their international expansion team?

Unlike some domestic telcos, SingTel has ownership in other telcos within the region, most notably with 100% ownership of Optus in Australia, 32.15% of Bharti Airtel, the largest carrier in India. In addition, they have invested in Telkomsel (largest in Indonesia), Maxis in Malaysia, AIS in Thailand and Globe in Philippines and many others which we may miss here. How do they synergise with these regional players in their respective markets? [16:01]

Amobee in Digital Advertising [17:20]

SingTel has been active in the startup ecosystem not just in Singapore but worldwide, through their VC arm, Innov8, what are the type of companies they have invested in? [18:53]

SingTel has two funds – US$2B fund focused on acquisition of companies fitting their strategic objectives, and the second is a US$250M corporate venture fund,Innov8.